Union Jacks: Oliver’s British Pizza

The latest Jamie Oliver concept, Union Jacks, has gone live online. Www.unionjacksrestaurants.com is the first glimpse of Oliver’s new Anglo-Italian concept, where ‘wood-fired flatbreads meet great British flavours’. Intriguing, but not as confusing as the bra advert on the homepage.

An excerpt from the site says: ‘At Union Jacks, [we] want to take you on a journey of discovery through Britain and reintroduce you to familiar flavours, cooked and presented the Union Jacks way. Our incredible flatbreads and wood-fired cooking methods nod to traditions that are universally loved, and nearly all of the ingredients for the toppings are unabashedly local.’

The Union Jacks concept is an interesting symbiosis of British food trends combined with long term consumer demand for Italian cuisine. Using of the word ‘flatbreads’ rather than pizza enables the concept to straddle two cuisine types effectively without alienating one another.

Chris Bianco, founder of the renowned Pizzeria Bianco in the US, has been helping Oliver mastermind the ‘flatbread’ offering at Union Jacks and is a Director of the new Jamie Bianco Ltd. Biancio opened his first Pizzeria in 1987 and has since received wide acclaim for his ‘world class’ food. The presence of Bianco on these shores demonstrates Oliver’s aspiration to compete with the major pizza players in the UK, albeit with a British twist.

The roll-out of Franco Manca and the out of London expansion for Rossopomodoro are all clear signs that the UK pizza market is entering a more mature phase where multiple operators are concerned. It seems that Jamie wants a piece of the pie.

I am certainly looking forward to seeing how the concept hangs together. With such an experienced management team, led by Simon Blagden, its hard to see the restaurant ding badly, its more a question of how quickly the roll-out occurs.

Union Jacks: opening in November

Central St Giles
London WC1H 8AG

Aces and Eights

Brits tend not to combine binge drinking with food all that well and there are three very scientific reasons why. Eating wastes valuable boozing time before the last orders bell tolls, legend has it that solids ‘absorb’ alcohol thus preventing maximum pissedness and lastly money spent on unnecessary solids dent the beery budget too much. All these factors considered its very easy to understand why many eschew a tasty bite whilst getting silly with their friends of an evening out.

Rock, Liquor, Pizza is the strapline above the door of the Tufnell Park bar Aces & Eights and at this Yankee dive bar there is no excuse not to line your stomach with Pizzas made on-site by the crew from Il Bacio. With a cocktail list centered firmly around bourbon and some popular US beers the brothers behind Islington's Slim Jim’s Liquor Store are on to something hot. Compared with the hassle and expense of installing a kitchen, creating a food menu and paying staff, this solution is a stroke of genius: find an existing pizza company with a good reputation and offer them your back room…

Morat the pizzaiolo resides behind his topping counter with his pin ball machine for company. Food is ordered directly from the chef and served by him, all the bar staff have to do is collect the wooden serving boards and for this small gesture they are plied with complementary pizza – Its win win for everybody. While Il Bacio concentrate on pizza Aces & Eights do the rock thing.

The extended yet classic pizza menu takes after the other Il Bacio outposts, delicious Sardinian sausage, pecorino & jalapeno is a champion choice. Odder options include the Passione d’Amore with avocado, capers, mint & aubergine. Fortunately the toppings are concise & balanced & rule over thin & crispy bases. 12" and 16" pizzas are available at £7.95 & £15.95 sit in or take away, either way no reason not to enjoy a lovingly mixed Old Fashioned while your there. If your a north Londoner its definitely worth checking out.

156-158 Fortess Road
London NW5 2HP

Summer of Robin

We have been busy since our trading début back in June at Gottwood. Rather than beg or borrow lots of the gear needed to vend we decided that getting our own stuff was key. Jack Dash's 'heap of crap' provided a curious afternoon resulting in a new lightweight sink and rolling table.

Skilled draughtsmanship was necessary in the planning of our new bar.


Next stop was the Underhill Festival down Dorset way. This is a prime example of misleading marketing, the website was slick the concept niche, we were stoked. However we have now learned that you really have to pick and choose your events carefully. Visitor numbers were not what the organisers had made out and while extremely helpful sparky, Trevor, did all he could to help the tiny generator was not up to powering the mighty Roberta's 5Kw needs. With fuel running out every hour or so and a funnel fabricated out of an old coke bottle we struggled to get the old girl up to heat and trading was slow.

Some charming yet hammered punters made the evening hilarious and we did manage to shift a hundred odd of Robins' finest. The young Irish gentleman below was more carted than Oliver Reed on his birthday and lacking pounds sterling offered us €50 for a pizza, being the honest types we are (but at the same time generally accepting only legal UK tender) brokered a deal that we would exchange 3 pizzas and £25 cashback. Our celtic chum took his cashback and wandered off with only one pizza. So whilst selling our most expensive pizza to date we are more than happy to offer a refund.

Some Qypers were next in-line for some Robiny action at the Guru event organised by tireless freelance journo Jo Webber. Fifteen qypes turned up for free Pizza; we did some dough rolling, all got a bit floury and everyone had a go at making their own bespoke versions. Cheers to those who reviewed the evening and thanks a bunch to those who didn't.

Last Saturday night saw our first private party, a hundred or so guests were being generously entertained in a lovely house in Kingston and we were there to provide the booze absorbing sustenance. I hope one day that I will attend a party with a pizza bar knocking out its melty wares, I can't think of a single food stuff that I would rather idly munch on whilst slurping on someone else's stash. An excellent choice by the party organisers if I say so myself. If you or know of anyone having a party or organising an event we would be more than happy to be there!

In other less good news we have sadly had to pull out of the Thames festival. It was with great regret that we made this decision. The Thames festival will be a huge affair and we worked out that to make a real go of it we would have had to be kneading for about eight hours a day to produce enough dough to keep up with projected demand. We are currently working towards accumulating enough capital in order to afford a mechanical mixer. This is the next step in Robin's adventure and we aim to have this sorted in time for festival season 2011, if anyone can help find us a nice second hand at a bargain price you will be awarded with free pizza for life!

We will be holding an underground takeaway very soon, with all proceeds going towards the mixer fund (details TBA) and please follow us on Twitter @RobinsPizza and check out all our photos on our Facebook page.

See you all soon!

(Images by A.A Coe & Cleo Leng)

Robin's Pizza - Dates Ahead

Upcoming summer events where you'll be able to find us:

Underhill Festival - 30th July - 31st July
Qype Guru event - 3rd August - SOLD OUT
Thames Festival - 11th & 12th September